Automotive seat assemblies typically include a seat bottom and a seat back pivotally attached to the seat bottom. The seat back comprises a rigid seat back frame supporting a contoured foam cushion encapsulated in a trim cover material. Semi-rigid back panels are mounted to a rear surface of the seat back in certain applications. The back panel conceals a rear surface of the seat back frame, the rear of the foam cushion, a portion of the trim cover material, and any other interior components of the seat back. In these type of seating configurations, the trim cover is stretched over a front surface of the seat back and then secured to the rear surface of the seat back frame by a number of trim attachment strips. The back panel is typically secured to the rear surface of the seat back frame by a number of christmas tree type locking clips or screws. Once attached to the seat back frame, the back panels cannot be easily removed.
A current trend in the automotive industry is to move the entire seat belt structure onto the seat back to form an integral seat belt restraint assembly. These seat belt structures commonly include a telescoping tower which is vertically moveable between a lower position and an upper or raised position to provide selective adjustment or alignment with a seat occupant. Seats having these telescoping towers create a host of problems for manufactures. Some of the problems relate to the assembly, safety, reliability, added weight, and aesthetics of the seats. One of the assembly problems is effectively securing the semi-rigid back panel around the tower. A typical aesthetic problem is maintaining the desired spacing between the back panel and the seat back frame. Another aesthetic problem is protecting and concealing from view the number of internal components needed to operate the tower assembly. Still yet another problem is that the trim cover material cannot be stretched around certain parts of the tower assembly. Hence, certain portions of the trim cover material cannot be securely attached to the rear surface of the seat back frame.